Graduation Week – 7-9 May 2025 – Melbourne

From 5-9 May 2025, we take Graduation Week on the road and invite our Fellows, Friends and supporters to join us in Melbourne to share some important leadership conversations, experiences, celebrations and learnings.

Thursday 8 May is the key date for most of our Fellows and Friends, with the 2025 Leadership Program Graduation Dinner at the Melbourne Town Hall the must-attend event.

READ ON for individual event information and booking links.

Venues:

Melbourne Connect, 700 Swanston Street, Carlton.

Most events and activities will be held at Melbourne Connect, a University of Melbourne facility. Melbourne Connect is an appropriate location for the Trust as it represents a physical and programmatic convergence of organisations and interdisciplinary institutions seeking to leverage research and emerging technologies to disrupt and transform our society.  With its deep respect for knowledge and its spirit of innovation, it’s a space that aligns with our own principles and aspirations.

Swanston Hall, Melbourne Town Hall, Swanston Street, Melbourne.

Swanston Hall is the elegant venue for the 2025 Leadership Program Graduation Dinner on Thursday 8 May.  Located on the traditional lands of the Eastern Kulin nation, the Melbourne Town Hall is a magnificent heritage building in the heart of the city.  It is a place where many of the decisions that have helped to shape Melbourne have been made, and today it is a hub for Melbourne’s cultural and civic activity.  A place with gravitas, important conversations are had here and it is a fitting backdrop for our gathering of leaders.

Registration:

Two key events are ticketed and require registration and payment:

• Ethical Leadership – Fellows Professional Development Day: Thursday 8 May, 9.30am-4.30pm, Melbourne Connect – $50pp + GST  REGISTER HERE
• 2025 Leadership Program Graduation Dinner: Thursday 8 May, 6.00 for 6.15-10.00pm, Swanston Hall – $95pp + GST REGISTER HERE

Registration links are also shared in the individual event information below.

FULL EVENTS PROGRAM:

Wednesday 7 May

2024 Leadership Program Recharge Workshop

BY INVITATION

• Wednesday 7 May, 10.00am – 4.30pm
• Melbourne Connect

One year on from their PCT Leadership Program it’s time to come back together and recharge for the next chapter of the leadership journey.

The 12-month “Recharge” workshop provides an opportunity for the cohort to:

• Reconnect with each other,
• Reflect on key learnings over the 12 months since graduation from the PCT Leadership Program, and
• Renew their leadership vision and energy for the future.

All Recharge participants are encouraged to continue their professional development journey at the Fellows Professional Development Day at Melbourne Connect, and the Graduation Dinner at the Melbourne Town Hall – both on Thursday 8 May.  Details including registration links below.

Fellows Committee Strategic Planning Day

BY INVITATION

• Wednesday 7 May, 12.00-4.00pm
• Melbourne Connect

Annual meeting of the Fellows Committee to review and renew their 3-year Strategic Plan and implementation program for the 2025/26 FY.

Includes a Welcome to the Network presentation to the new graduands.

Thursday 8 May

Fellows Professional Development Day – Ethical Leadership

FELLOWS ONLY

• Thursday 8 May, 9.30am – 4.30pm
• Melbourne Connect
• $50 (+GST) pp
• Tickets are limited

Theme: Ethical Leadership

Purpose:

• To explore the challenges of ethical leadership, and how we hold onto our values in times of uncertainty.

Sessions Include:

• Upskilling – tools and techniques to take back to the workplace
• Challenging – speakers and panels under Chatham House rule – what does it take to be an ethical leader?
• Unpacking – what is ethical leadership?  We’ll invite you to share a current ethical challenge that you’re dealing with and together we’ll explore 3 of them
• Networking – structured speed-networking beyond the leadership cohorts; building trusted leadership networks
• Sharing – some of the profound learnings from November PD Day – cultural learning / Victorian initiatives including treaty

This is a day for challenging questions, upskilling and self-reflection, with opportunities to share and learn together, as well as build commitment to each other to continue the journey.

This is a ticketed event with limited number of seats

REGISTER HERE

Meet the Graduates

GRADUATING COHORT AND TRUST BOARD – BY INVITATION

• Thursday 8 May, 5.00-6.00pm
• Swanston Hall, Melbourne Town Hall

Small group conversations with the PCT Board Directors and the Graduating cohort.

2025 Leadership Program Graduation Dinner

FELLOWS, FRIENDS AND INVITED GUESTS

• Thursday 8 May, 6.00 for 6.15 – 10.00pm
• Swanston Hall, Melbourne Town Hall

For 15 years, the Peter Cullen Trust has been influential in the transformative leadership development of managers, engineers, scientists, communicators, policy makers and leaders in the water and environment sector.  The first of many milestone moments in their ongoing leadership journey is their formal graduation, witnessed and celebrated by Fellows and Friends of the Trust alongside the sponsors and supporters of the graduands.

Historically, Graduation is held at The Shine Dome on the ANU grounds in Canberra.  In May 2025, for the first time in almost a decade, Graduation comes to Melbourne.

• When: Thursday 8 May – 6.00pm for 6.15-10.00pm
• Where: Swanston Hall, Melbourne Town Hall, Melbourne
• What: 2-course dinner and full drinks service:
  • Your MC – Rosie Wheen, CEO of the Peter Cullen Trust
  • Host – Professor Emerita Cynthia Mitchell, AO, Chair of the Peter Cullen Trust
  • Presentation by the 2025 Leadership Program graduands
  • Guest Speakers: Professor Emerita Cynthia Mitchell, AO, in conversation with Pat McCafferty, Managing Director, Yarra Valley Water
  • Dress code: Cocktail or After Five (and Business will get you in, too)
  • Tickets: $95pp (+GST); $760 (+GST) Tables of 8 (cohorts encouraged)

Victoria is home to over a third of the Peter Cullen Trust’s Fellows and the Victorian water sector has long held the crown as our strongest ally.  The 2025 Leadership Program Graduation Dinner is a unique opportunity to showcase the leadership credentials of the Victorian sector, and to elevate the role of leaders and transformative leadership experiences on the national stage.

The Graduation Dinner will provide a safe and trusted space for open discussion of wicked problems and for rich networking.  We will hear from Fellows who are both the beneficiaries and the future of the Trust and challenge ourselves to courageously, collaboratively and optimistically tackle the big challenges in water and environment.

With a capacity of 100, this is an intimate dining, learning and networking experience for Fellows, Friends and invited guests, in a significant venue and in the heartland of the Peter Cullen Trust and its Fellows.

This is a ticketed event with a limited number of seats

REGISTER HERE

For those unable to attend in person, elements of this event will be RECORDED.

Friday 9 May

FELLOWS PLEASE NOTE:

There is no Fellows Networking Breakfast on this occasion, due to the late finish of the Graduation Dinner on the Thursday night, and to accommodate early morning flights for many.

PCT Board Meeting

TRUST BOARD AND STAFF

• Friday 9 November, 8.00am – 12.00pm
• Melbourne Connect

The quarterly meeting of the Trust’s Board.